October is the month for literary prizes. The most awaited prize awarded this month is the Nobel Prize for Literature, but as usual the date will be only be set at the last minute, so we are kept in the dark even about that. As a fan of Haruki Murakami I am of course keeping my fingers crossed for him, as the speculation begins again about this being the year he is awarded the Prize. In addition we have the Man Booker Prize announcement which is keeping the English literary world busy with speculation. Several good names are competing for this year’s award, so it will be an interesting announcement.

The festivals and fairs keep doing their rounds. My favourite fair would be the one held in Helsinki, but simply because I would love to be back in Finland again. I am going to a book festival soon, but it is a festival only in name, in reality it is a enormous travelling book-store with cheap prizes. More about that after next week-end…